“Oh dear, you are not on Facebook!” is a common comment I have been getting for three years now—since I have deactivated my account—whenever I ask about a trend I am not familiar with in any gathering. I do miss my social media life, especially in such dreadful times when in-person human interaction is limited. Social media has become a way, or rather the only way, for entertainment and interaction with your buddies; yet, it is not all bright and shiny.
No one can deny that the invention of online networking is one of the greatest inventions of the 2000s. The history of social media is definitely linked to the invention and widespread of the Internet, since it is based on online communication. With that in mind, we realize that social media platforms are a wide range of things that include: the social network Facebook, the microblogging service Twitter, the messaging application WhatsApp, and the video-sharing site YouTube, among many others nowadays.
In a world where more people own a mobile device than a toothbrush, social media is certainly a big world. It has become an integral part of all of our lives, and everyone uses it a bit differently; we use it to connect with friends and family, look for jobs, entertain ourselves, and get updated with current events. In 2020, an estimated 3.6 billion active users globally use social networking sites; a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025.
Since the dawn of time, we know by heart that whenever there is a significant technological advance, people’s lives change dramatically, and a debate arises about its nature; is it good or bad? In a relatively short time, social media platforms came into existence; they have since revolutionized the way we communicate, and became one of the most important tools for empowering people. At the same time, they have fostered unhealthy and destructive behaviors that have made a lot of people call it “a curse!” to confront those praising “the power of social media”.
With good intentions, social media primarily emerged to nurture and expand our relationships; regardless of your location on this planet, you can find other people, who share the same interests. It also has proven effects on mental health support; research shows that people who get online support from others struggling with the same problems, have better health outcomes than those who might not seek help. Here lies the beauty of social media as a connectivity tool; you can connect with anyone to share your thoughts and learn too.
Social media offers more information than you might find in a library, and you can access it at any time. I remember that, working on my Master’s thesis, I built a lot of culturally specific ideas from social media navigation. You can easily learn too from experts and professionals in any field via social media, by simply following them to enhance your knowledge. Regardless of your location and educational background, you can educate yourself for free!
For teachers as well, social media has lots of benefits; it is very easy to reach out for students using its various tools instead of traditional educational methods. Whether they connect on Zoom or upload videos on Facebook, teachers no longer find these tools intimidating. In addition, they are no longer limited to their classroom students; they can reach out for other kids from all over the region with the videos they have created. Teachers are now out of their comfort zone and use other challenging tools that lead to incorporating “blended learning”—a combination of technology resources and in-classroom learning—into today’s educational systems.
Similarly, studies have linked social media use with greater success in people’s careers. The whole world became open for businessmen and entrepreneurs; they can make their businesses profitable and less expensive by promoting it to the right audience everywhere, using minimal fees for advertising. Another fine reason that makes social media a blessing is its role in building communities; it provides an area for discussion that involves people from different backgrounds, helps the needy through quick and innovative ways, creates awareness, and enhances people’s lives.
However, what makes social media unique and of positive effects on our lives, could make it worse too. Cyberbullying has become one of the most potentially dangerous problems on social media, especially for teens. Social media allows the creation of unlimited accounts that could be fake, and those with bad intentions could use it quite easily to bully without being traced. They could threat and intimidate others, or spread rumors that create discomfort in the society.
Stalking is another issue that faces social media users; they post a lot of information about their lives and habits that can be easily monitored. Hacking and identity theft are other consequences of sharing personal data, which can be easily accessed and hacked. This could lead to business losses and affect individual’s personal lives and reputations. Moreover, as users share their happy moments and successes, it could make other people with self-esteem issues and insecurities unintentionally measure their success on them, thus, deepening feelings of inferiority and failure.
Social media does not only have connective powers, it has destructive ones too. It could connect misguided people together and fuel their negative attitudes and beliefs, leading to disastrous actions that harm a lot of innocent people. Moreover, the nature of social media as a user-generated content that everyone can post without significant restrictions on the type of the uploaded content, and its viral nature of content distribution, allows false and unreliable information to spread quickly.
Statistics have shown that the average Internet user spends nearly 26% of their year online. Most adults remember what life looked like before social media, and they can step away from it, but young people can hardly do so, leading to another potentially dangerous issue “social media addiction”.
Scientists are unveiling increasing links between the excess use of social media and teen depression. Young people who already feel unhappy and isolated are cut off from the society and becoming vulnerable. They seek online experiences to escape the reality and to feel connected, but this makes their depression and anxiety worse. They get into a “never-ending addictive loop”—as described by psychologist and writer Nicholas Kardaras—and spend excessive time social networking for more, regardless of their emotional response.
Whether social media is “good” or “bad”, a blessing or a curse, each view has more than one evidence to support its argument, but research on social media effects is still in its infancy with relatively scarce scientific data. What is clear is that what happens on social media, never stays on social media, but affects our communities and societies as a whole. It is important to understand, and help others understand, and be social media responsible. Remember to make the correct choices in the correct time with the correct amounts, to keep everyone safe, healthy, and satisfied.
References
britannica.com
broadbandsearch.net
carrierclinic.org
historycooperative.org
newportacademy.com
statista.com
techmaish.com
Image by Freepik.